Facebook out to woo Chinese firms

New York, March 31
Facebook has significantly ramped up its efforts to woo Chinese advertisers and draw more business in a country that banned the social networking site a few years ago along with micro-blogging site Twitter and other foreign social media services.

The aim behind intensifying its efforts is to some day enter China, Wall Street Journal reported.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has raised his profile in China in recent months. In October last year, he spoke in Mandarin to a Chinese audience at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

He also met Chinese giants like Alibaba Group chief Jack Ma and Lei Jun, the chief executive of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp.

In December, he showed the visiting Chinese top internet regulator at Facebook's headquarters in California that he keeps a book of Chinese President Xi Jinping's thoughts on his desk, the report added.

The aim is to pitch to the Chinese companies the benefits of reaching Facebook's 1.39 billion active monthly users beyond China's borders.

Facebook is also seeking more Chinese clients such as Youzu Interactive Co., a Shanghai-based online game designer.

"Half of our players come from Facebook. It is our most important ad tool right now," Liu Wanqin, manager for overseas advertising at Youzu was quoted as saying.

Analysts believe Chinese advertisers play a growing role in Asia ad revenue for the company.

Facebook's fourth-quarter Asia ad revenue totalled $531 million, up 67 percent from a year earlier.

Chinese online retailer "Light in the Box" started purchasing ads on Facebook in 2013, in addition to advertising on Google.

The retailer now manages its own Facebook ads, the report added.